Chapter 256 A Strange Mistake

Albrecht was a soldier with a strong sense of honor. If someone else could achieve such a brilliant victory on the Hungarian Plain, he would definitely be proud.

For Franz, this riot was just an opportunity. As a time traveler, he certainly understood what kind of crisis the Austrian Empire would face in the future.

An army loyal to itself is very important to the ruler at any time. In order to survive the crisis of 1848, Franz must do everything possible to enrich his feathers.

"Hey, don't say such discouraging words, okay?"

Friedrich really couldn't stand the riddle between the two, but he knew very well that killing in war was a heavy topic. However, as a soldier, Friedrich was obviously not as sentimental as his elder brother. He was still at the age of "if violence is not for killing, it is meaningless."

"Uncle Friedrich. Do you have any good news that you want to share with us?" As far as Franz knew, the Imperial Navy had not made any big moves recently. If there was anything, it should be that two more battleships had been modified.

The quality of the Egyptian battleships was too poor, and the cost of modification was very high, but compared with the price of shipbuilding, it was still very cost-effective.

If the Austrians built several warships by themselves, although the quality was guaranteed, it would take at least ten years, which was too long for a big country that was thriving and had to keep up with the pace of colonization.

Speaking of this, it was thanks to the spoils of the Turkish-Egyptian War, otherwise Austria could only organize a merchant fleet to colonize Africa.

However, in Friedrich's eyes, it seemed that having merchant ships was enough to fight those natives.

"Franz, do you know the real culprit who attacked us?" Friedrich said mysteriously.

"Let me think about it. British, French, Portuguese, Dutch, or slave traders from a certain country?" Franz had long known that the incident of his attack was not that simple.

"In fact, it was a conspiracy between the French and Brazilian slave traders."

"How did you know?" After thinking about it, Franz felt that he still needed to confirm the credibility of the source of the information. After all, this might also be a common conspiracy used by other countries to divert attention.

Even if the old colonial empires are already saturated and can no longer eat the rest of the dinner, it does not mean that they will hope that other countries will get involved in their sphere of influence. Provoking wars between competitors is also a common trick of these old empires.

Historically, France finally won West Africa, but this does not mean that other countries do not covet this land. For example, England may not have enough power to manage West Africa now, so it may want to use Austria to contain France.

From Ashanti in West Africa, to the Cape Colony in South Africa, to the Indian subcontinent, Afghanistan, the ancient countries in the East, and even New Zealand in the distant Oceania and Hawaii in the Pacific, this new empire on which the sun never sets can be said to have spread the flames of war all over the world at this time, and the most tragic of them is the Spanish Civil War, which burned money.

The intensity of European wars in this era is much higher than that of other continents. Franz was always on high alert against this British octopus that was unwilling to be lonely and often stretched out its tentacles. After all, they had several nails in the east of the Austrian Empire and even secretly supported Prussia and Hanover.

"Recently, our merchant ships transporting ivory to and from Togo were attacked. This is too strange. After all, there are British warships cruising in West Africa all year round. The pirates who are active on the sea all year round are cunning. They usually only dare to rob some private merchant ships, and they are not stupid enough to actively attack large and medium-sized merchant ships with national backgrounds."

After listening to Friedrich's words, Franz felt a little incredible and blurted out.

"You mean they hired pirates to attack our merchant ships?"

"Yes, they were a group of desperate men from Portugal. Of course, this intelligence was provided by the French at the supply station in Morocco, and then I had people capture all the guys who contacted them."

Friedrich's words made Franz sweat. Attacking other countries' supply stations for no reason was a serious crime. If it was not handled properly, it would probably become an unmanageable disaster.

"You didn't send people to attack them directly?"

"No, no, no, doing such a thing would certainly not leave any handles for the other party to grasp. The ones who attacked them were pirates. You also know that Morocco is the pirates' nest. The French set up a supply station there because they were tired of living. We are innocent, and now those people have been buried in the belly of fish. Dead people will not speak."

After listening, he suddenly regretted talking about special operations with the naval hopeful, because the latter is now addicted to it.

"Did you kill them to silence them?"

"Not only that, I also destroyed the bodies." Friedrich was obviously very proud of his actions.

"Well done! But don't act so easily next time, it's too dangerous." Franz was relieved immediately. As long as there was no direct evidence left, the French would not dare to rashly provoke trouble.

As for those French who died tragically, since they decided to join the pirates, they should be prepared to bear this anger.

"Let's get back to the topic. What is their fundamental purpose for doing this? Do they think that just a few indigenous African tribes or a few pirate ships can stop our colonization?" Franz asked with some confusion. road.

"These guys hope to provoke a conflict between us and the British because the Gold Coast is British territory and the so-called northern tribes actually refer to the Ashanti Kingdom.

Unfortunately, our intelligence preparations for West Africa were insufficient, and the indigenous survivors who attacked us did not explain clearly the ins and outs of their behind-the-scenes planning, so we would not connect the attackers with the British at all.

After that, we left Togo directly, and now the French hope to use piracy to evoke our memories. As for the main reason why the Brazilians intervened, it was purely because we disrupted their business.

Since our country supports the Brazilian government, as a separatist force, they will naturally dislike us. "

Franz scratched his head. It seemed that lack of intelligence was not a bad thing sometimes. Austria’s information about West Africa can be said to be extremely scarce, and Franz only knew about Ghana, but not about the Ashanti Kingdom. The local indigenous people in Togo also called the Ashanti Kingdom, Kabulenon.

Fortunately, we didn't directly crush the entire army at that time, otherwise the current situation would be difficult to deal with.

"This can only be blamed on the French conspiracy being so complicated that they confused themselves, haha." Franz said half-jokingly.

"Haha! You are so right." Friedrich couldn't help laughing.

After Albrecht heard the cause and effect, he could only sigh helplessly with a solemn expression on his face. This was obviously a conspiracy carefully arranged by an opponent, but the two protagonists, one of whom lacked geographical knowledge and the other did not understand the language, could not help but sigh. But he was extremely lucky. Not only did he escape unscathed, but he also thwarted the enemy's plot.

However, the light of the goddess of luck will not shine on them forever. Who can guarantee that good luck will come to them when something similar happens again in the future?

"The French are really hateful!" This is the consensus of almost all Austrians. After all, the hatred accumulated as neighbors for hundreds of years cannot be easily resolved.

"Do you have any good way to deal with them, Franz?" Friedrich asked, personally he admired this nephew. After all, even if he had sufficient intelligence as a guarantee, he couldn't think of an idea that would raise blood pressure more than snatching the entire Egyptian fleet.

"Pirates attacked a French supply point in West Africa. Do you think the proud Gallic rooster will give up?"

"Of course not! They will take this opportunity to invade Morocco!"

"Yes, even if this incident had not happened, the French would not have let Morocco go. So we should remind the Moroccans."

Historically, France has always hoped to turn North Africa into France's back garden. At this time, Algeria has been invaded. As long as the local resistance becomes weaker, the freed-up French will deal with the Moroccans.

"Yes! The French have established so many supply points and trading posts along the coast of Morocco. This must be their early preparation to invade Morocco. According to you, should we let the Moroccans strike first?"

"Yes, the French cabinet and military cannot come to a conclusion so quickly, and like the British, they have stretched the front too long. They have troops everywhere from Africa to the Americas. Although the French have already drawn up a plan to capture Morocco Okay, but it is not a wise strategy for them to take the initiative to start a war with Morocco at this time."